Conceptual painter Rune Mields dies at 91

Rune Mields, a conceptual painter who challenged male dominance in the art world, died peacefully on Saturday at age 91 in Cologne, according to her son and gallerist Judith Andreae. Born in Münster in 1935, Mields trained as a bookseller before turning to art as an autodidact. Her six-decade career focused on the significance of numbers and symbols across world cultures. She participated in Documenta 6 in 1977 and held a guest professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts, with a residency at Villa Massimo in Rome. In 2000 she received the Gabriele Münter Prize for lifetime achievement. On her 90th birthday, the Kunstmuseum Bonn dedicated a room to her in its collection. Mields designed her own grave in 1992 at the Künstler-Nekropole Kassel, where she will be buried. A double exhibition planned for 2027 at Kunsthalle Gießen and Museum Morsbroich in Leverkusen will now become a retrospective.